Blue Stockings (play)

Blue Stockings is the first full-length play by Jessica Swale. It is set at Girton College, Cambridge in 1896. Its title refers to bluestockings, a derogatory term for female intellectuals. The action involves four very talented female undergraduates and the campaign to be allowed like their male colleagues to receive a formal degree qualification at the end of their studies. The play touches on some of the issues surrounding the feminist ideals of the late nineteenth-century New Woman including female bicycle-riding, equal education rights, sexual autonomy, and political enfranchisement.

The play was developed during 2012 at the National Theatre Studio[1] and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.[2][3] Its first full production ran at Shakespeare's Globe from 24 August to 11 October 2013.[4][5]

The printed play includes a dedication to female education activist and Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai.[6]

  1. ^ "Jessica Swale: Writer/Director" (PDF). McNaughton Lord Representation. The Wayback Machine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2014.
  2. ^ Malzy, Anna. "Blue Stockings by Anna Malzy". We Geeked This: GEEKED Magazine's Official Blog.
  3. ^ https://actors.mandy.com/uk/events.php?uid=1274[dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale". Shakespeare's Globe. Retrieved 2016-03-04. This production has now closed. ... 24 August - 11 October[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Swale, Jessica (6 August 2013). "College girls go wild: Jessica Swale on her new Globe play Blue Stockings". Evening Standard.
  6. ^ "Nick Hern Books - Jessica Swale's Blue Stockings - A guide for studying and staging the play By Jessica Swale By Lois Jeary". Nick Hern Books.